USS/SS Leviathan 1914 by shipmodel - FINISHED - 1/200 - troop ship/ocean liner

[KeithAug]

Dan

 

I am only as far as November 6th but by the rate you are progressing I need to get a move on lest you finish it before I catch up. A fascinating build. I found it interesting / surprising how much photographic evidence you found given the era she inhabited. A great project which I look forward to following.

[shipmodel]

Gracias, amigo - 

 

I have the luxury of a reasonably complete work day to devote to building, not to mention all the time I spend in the evenings thinking about my next move.  But I am seriously behind in writing this log.  Sorry, I'll get something out soon.

 

I tend to rely on photographs over any plans that I can find.  Even modern plans are usually "as designed" and not "as built".  Those from over 100 years ago, like those of the USS Maine and the Leviathan, can be significantly different.   Fortunately she was a famous ship in her day and newspaper cameramen were producing lots of photos, many of which are now in various libraries who have put their collections online.  We live in a time of unparalleled availability of knowledge.  I could not begin to do the depth of research that I do, or attempt the level of accuracy that I aim for, without their generosity.    

 

But photos are not the last word either, except for a frozen moment in time.  I have images from all of her incarnations - as the Vaterland from 1914-1917; as the USS Leviathan, 1917-1919 (and in storage 1919-1922), relaunched as the SS Leviathan 1924-1934.  Each of these periods has a surprising number of  differing details, even structural ones.    Figuring out which ones to include and which to reject is part of the fun.

 

Thanks for following along.

 

Dan

[shipmodel]

 

Hello again and thanks to all who are following along.  I buckled down and put this together a bit sooner than I thought I could, and I hope you enjoy it.  This segment catches up the build to about December 1 of last year.  Soon I hope to be current.

 

First, I got some welcome confirmation from Professor Smith of our best guesses for the dazzle paint colors.  Somewhere in the archives of the museum he came up with color chips of the paints used during World War I.   The one most in question, Blue Green 1, is at the upper left and matches quite closely to the color already on the model, so no overpainting will be needed.  Whew!

Construction itself continued upwards with B Deck, which is highlighted in the photo below.  This and other pictures told me that only the forward two long sections are enclosed by window units, while aft of them the side is open with pillars and a solid rail.

The details of the deck house are rarely seen since it sits well back from the side of the ship.  I relied on the one photo below which was taken at just the right angle to show the doors and windows at this level.

   

After lots of time spent poring over the photos and trying to decipher the notations on the plans, I came up with these windows for the deck houses of both B and A Decks.  It’s a bit surprising what can be done pretty easily with Photoshop and clear decal film for an ink-jet printer.

The deck house shape was taken from the plans and was assembled from various rectangular pieces of ½” basswood.  After sheathing it in styrene the troop ship side was painted grey.  Portholes were drilled and installed, followed by the doors, window decals, and handrails.

At the side the forward window sections are built up from smaller sections and panels, but most of the photos are taken from too far away to be really helpful.

In a close-up of the troop ship I learned that the windows consist of three-panel units with added pillars in between.  The frames have cross-pieces setting off the top third of each panel, but no corresponding lower frames.  The upper and lower thirds have solid panels behind the frames, leaving only the center third open.

I laid out the repeating frame units in Photoshop using the ‘copy’ function a lot so I could generate the long runs that I needed.  A similar set of windows was laid out for the face of the forward superstructure and its deckhouse.  These were laser cut for my by Charlie Zardoz, a good modeler with some build logs on this site, and a great guy.  He managed to get the penetration set so the windows just pop out while the frames remain sturdily behind.

After sizing and cutting out the lengths that I needed two back panels were installed to cover the upper and lower thirds, then the units were painted.  Here is one of the troop ship pieces before installation.

And after.  The darker area seen through the open windows is the side of the deck house which is set back and painted flat black to create the impression of depth.   The dust is not for effect and will be removed.

The process was similar on the ocean liner side, but with more colors.  I have not located any color photos or paintings of the liner which have this detail, so I opted for a warm brown for the frames and tan for the backing pieces.  The pillars are each added individually and left the bare color of white styrene.  A black background proved too much of a contrast with these colors, so a warmer grey was used.

The aft portion of the ship’s side at this level has numerous pillars set every 14mm on the model.  As before, they are 0.032” brass rod, painted white on the ocean liner side and grey on the other.  A quick wooden spacer and guide ensured that the opening was a consistent 10mm tall and that the pillars were vertical.  Gluing them with cyano and white glue double locked them in place and strengthened the support for the deck piece of A Deck, which had a tendency to warp a little.

The face of the bow superstructure got a run of tall window frames as well.  The frames match the ones on the side of the ship, but have no backing pieces or added pillars.  Here they are in place with the window filling pieces taken out on the ocean liner side and set over a grey background.  I left the window pieces in on the troop ship side to match photos showing covers over them, probably to block any stray light.  The edges of the frames were given a dark wash to improve contrast.  Above, the smaller window units have been applied to the initial mock-up of the A Deck house. 

So here is the model status as of December 1 of last year.  Bit by bit, taking small steps, I am working inward and upward toward the upper decks and funnels.  I find it quite interesting that changing the paint scheme changes the look, to my eye, of the husky, tall troop ship into the low, sleek ocean liner even though I know, for a fact, that they are identical.

 

More soon.

 

Dan

 

 

[Jim Lad]

Some very nice progress, Dan!

 

John

[mtaylor]

Sweet work, Dan.  From here it looks like the camouflage is doing it's job and hiding the real shape.

[Mirabell61]

Hi Dan,

any updates on the Leviathan so far ?

 

Nils

[shipmodel]

 

Hi Nils - and all who are following and liking what I have been posting. 

 

Sorry I have been tied up for a bit with personal matters and my writing time has mostly been taken up with the QAR articles for the Journal.  Anyway, here is the next segment.

 

Continuing the build up from where I left off, the next level to be addressed was A Deck, highlighted in the photo.  As can be seen, this is a highly complicated and multi-level construction which is visually very important to the model since there is no covering deck above it. 

The tall superstructure forward of the first funnel is the most intricate and its position is the most critical since it has to match exactly the structures already in place.  The aft end of the deck house aft of the third funnel could be off by a small amount without anyone the wiser, but not this area.  So although I would have preferred to start with a simpler area, the forward superstructure had to be tackled at this point.  This turned out to be one of the trickier parts of the build.

At the forward face there is a large opening in front of the recessed A Deck house with a dark solid railing, which turned out to be made of wood.  Four round pillars support the Bridge Deck, with large boxy uprights to either side that support the bridge wings.  Judging from the heights of the people, the A Deck house is much taller than the B Deck house, but exactly how tall is difficult to determine. 

The plans gave me good news and bad news.  In the cross section view I realized that the entire unit could be built separately from the rest of the ship.  There was a natural separation above the B Deck line and forward of the first funnel.  But within this area both the Library and the 1^st Class Smoke Room are taller than the rest of the decks.  I had a lot of difficulty in figuring out how this would work with what had already been built.  Using one of these rooms as the height of the deckhouse would not be tall enough, and using both would be much too tall. 

Using Photoshop I compared the plans to the photo of the ship.  The top of the B Deck windows that had been already constructed gave me the level for A Deck, as indicated.   But on the plans there was no corresponding deck line, so I drew it in blue.  Now it was clear that the Library room actually extended up through A deck and this extra height was added to the height of the Smoke Room to make up the full height of the deck house.

With the height of the deck house determined I could fit the rest of the features to it.  The shape of the deck house is highlighted in red, although I later determined that the area in blue is actually a landing that is outside of the main structure of the deck house.  The uprights at the front are revealed to be hollow, that is, they do not have any supporting structures within them, just a stairway leading down to B deck.

Combining all of this information with examination of more photos I made final plans and started cutting wood.  To the basic ½” deckhouse height I added 3/16” on top to make up the added height of the Smoke Room and an additional 3/16 below for the top of the Library.  This was cut and assembled before the forward face was sheathed with a set of laser-cut windows.  The paper pattern for the Bridge Deck was cut and used to test its relationship to the shape of the deckhouse.

Now the side uprights could be cut and installed so they matched the height of the deckhouse.  This was tested against the Bridge Deck plate and the initial shapes of the upper works.  You can also see how the windows were taken out on the liner side and mounted on a grey background.  On the troop ship side the windows were left in, since photos of the time show that they were covered like the lower windows to prevent light giving away the ship’s position. 

To stabilize the uprights I fashioned a piece that would be hidden under the Bridge Deck and by the overhang in front.  The solid railing was made from cherry veneer with the grain oriented vertically to simulate wainscoting.  A narrow wooden caprail was cut from veneer, curved, and installed on top. 

The deck house was still removable and by doing so I could judge how this front face compared to the various photographs.  With some minor quibbles I was satisfied.

Holes were drilled through the upright support piece and the four pillars made up from bass rod and installed.  The Bridge Deck plate was trimmed to final shape to match the finished structures below and the rough structures above.  It was secured to the top of the deckhouse, but not yet to the uprights and their support.  On the troop ship side the masking for the camouflage paint was laid on according to the photos.

The camouflage was hand-painted across all the deck levels up to the Bridge Deck.  I did forget to add the horizontal moldings before painting, but they will be colored later.  The Bridge Deck plate has had the deck paper laid on and has been edged using my usual techniques.  Across the front and around the bridge wings a solid wooden railing has been installed.

The sides of the deck house were sheathed and laser cut windows installed as seen in the photos.  A stairway was installed from the Bridge Deck to a landing which sits at the height of the top of the Library with a short stairway down to A Deck.  Handrails were fashioned and installed since it will be hard to get to this area once the piece is installed permanently.

On the troop ship side the painting was continued around as indicated in the camouflage plan, the painting and the photos.  At the front of the railing is a white plastic reinforcement, but this will be hidden inside the bridge in the finished model.

My next post, which I hope to get to soon, will cover the bridge and the deckhouse which contains the officers’ quarters. 

 

Until then, be well.

 

Dan

 

 

 

  

[Hubac's Historian]

Really well done Dan!  It was a treat to see her, with all the progress you have made, the other day.  I look forward to your next update.

[Jim Lad]

Great work on a very complex bit of structure, Dan!

 

John

[KeithAug]

Dan - I was pleased to find your update, you detailed explanations are always a good read. Very nice detail. I look forward to your next post.

[shipmodel]

Hello to all.

 

Thanks, as always, for the likes and compliments.  I had a touch of insomnia last night, so here is the next segment.  A brief one this time, and mostly pictures.

 

On top the A Deck house is the Bridge Deck with the bridge and the officers’ quarters in its deck house.  To show its elegance, the Vaterland was built with many touches of dark, luxurious hardwoods, including the bridge and the rail around the bridge wings.  The bridge itself, with its many windows, juts out from the line of the bridge rail and is cantilevered over A Deck.

You can see the fine woodworking in this photo of Captain Hans Ruser on the starboard bridge wing of the Vaterland.  Inside the bridge are several telegraphs and other ship handling equipment including a steering wheel.  Note that the wind deflector where the captain has stashed his binoculars only protects the outer part of the bridge wing.

The SS Leviathan boasted the same fine finishes, restored after war duty.  Captain Herbert Hartley gazes over the bow behind a wind deflector that now goes all the way to the bridge.

Aft of the bridge the walls of the officers’ quarters are metal again, with a door, two portholes, several windows and some ventilation equipment.

The plans are good in this area.  The deck house is outlined in red.  Note that it is not symmetrical.  There is a stairway up to the roof only on the port side.  The area of the bridge is in blue.  The top of the officers’ quarters is a bit complex, but not too big a challenge.  I left some extra meat on the front edge so I could refine it to exactly match the curve below.

Here are the two pieces from a bit earlier in the build when their shapes were still being refined.  I got caught up in the building process and forgot to take photos for a bit.

Using my usual techniques I sheathed and decked the pieces, then added a paper door, brass portholes and handrails, and my homemade window decals.  At the front the underlying basswood structure is sheathed in cherry veneer, rather than styrene, with fine cut strips as moldings.

For the front face of the bridge I dipped a piece of veneer in wood hardener.  When it dried it had enough strength to survive having the windows drilled, carved out, and finished with a square profile needle file.  I curved it to make sure that it fit in the space that it had to fill before doing the final trimming.

The Bridge Deck was carefully positioned on top of the A Deck house and glued down.  The bridge face was installed, along with two angled single window panels.  Caprails along the bridge wings were fashioned and installed, along with two cast pewter telegraphs from Bluejacket.  A steering wheel was put inside the bridge, but it is almost impossible to see.

For some reason Captain Hartley is dressed as a railroad conductor, but he does add a sense of scale to the area.

Photoetched railings were added to the Bridge Deck at this point.  I do not think that I will be working much in this area any more, and it would be more difficult to put them on once the subassembly was added to the model.

The troop ship side was done the same way, with the camouflage paint laid on before detailing.

After double and triple checking that everything was done the assembly was installed on the model.  Supports were added under the outer ends of the bridge wings as seen in the photos, and it is now ready for final detailing.

Thanks for following along.  More soon.

 

Dan

 

 

Edited February 21, 2019 by shipmodel

[michael mott]

Dan Just catching up. superb work on the ship a lot of interesting detail at a small scale.

 

Michael

[Louie da fly]

Beautiful work, Dan. And fascinating following your analysis and reconstruction of the complex details of this section of the superstructure.

 

Captain Hartley isn't based on the Fat Controller, by any chance? Nah, can't be. Wrong hat . . . 

 

Steven

[shipmodel]

Hello again to everyone.  I am trying to have the log catch up to the build, but I keep getting distracted by reading the excellent build logs from Michael, Rick, Gaetan, Keith, and all the others who are sharing their tribulations and triumphs.  Thank you all.

 

Meanwhile, in the Brooklyn dry dock the Leviathan is closing in on the last structural elements.  The A Deck house aft of the forward superstructure will complete the major constructions.  In the photo this area does not look that complex, but this is deceiving.

The plan view shows how irregular the outline is, with more nooks and crannies than an English muffin.  For some reason this deck plan is rarely reproduced.  This is the best one that I could put together.  It was taken from the end papers of Frank Braynard’s book and, from the label of “OBERANS. . . .” it is clearly the plans of the Vaterland and not the Leviathan.  It also suffers from crossing the gutter between the pages of the book, and a section just ahead of the middle funnel is blurry.

Photographs show that the area is even more complex than appears on the plans.  Deck house heights go up and down and the roof is busy with all sorts of machinery and small structures.

Higher resolution photos confirm this complexity, but since they are taken of the ocean liner, the overall white color scheme makes teasing out the details difficult.  Ventilators, ductwork, machinery and even a belfry can be made out, but exact sizes, placements, and relationships between them are an ongoing challenge.

Then there is the problem that the troop ship varies quite a bit from the ocean liner, and not just because of the camouflage.  Here, for example, two large structures can be seen that do not appear on the liner.  Ventilators?  Lookout positions?  Range finders?  Their size and locations have to be accounted for even while the basic structures are built.

Combining all of the available information, I came up with a series of shapes that were roughed out in basswood.  The three brass weights stood in for the funnels so I could get an idea of relative heights and placements.

Starting at the forward end I did some basic detailing of the support areas under the funnels.  Both the forward and middle funnels stand on bases with angled sides and curved ends.  12 louvers sit on each side.

Here is the forward one after sheathing and painting, with the next section aft, the rounded top of the main salon.  The paint on the salon camouflage is just the primer, which is too dark and was corrected later.  Neither piece is permanently attached at this point.

Louver pieces were made of wood and styrene.  They are flat triangles which were made up as a long strip, then parted off to the correct length (see insert). 

The 48 louver sections were made up and installed on the two bases.  After final sheathing and painting of the forward base and the salon cover they were carefully positioned and secured.  You can see how they interlock with some areas of the base overlapping the salon, while other areas of the salon overlap the funnel base.  Fitting together this bit of jigsaw took some time and care.

Continuing aft the rest of the interlocking sections of the deck house were fitted, sheathed and painted.  Despite the care that I took there were still one or two small gaps that had to be filled with slivers of sheathing.  All of the flat roofs were painted uniform grey on the theory that there would have been no reason in 1917 during WW I to camouflage areas that could only be seen from the air. 

The troop ship side was primed in a medium grey which was a start for the final camouflage colors.

And here is the double photo with all of the basic structures complete.  This was taken on February 1, so I am now only a month behind the build.  Hopefully I will catch up soon.

Till then, be well.

 

Dan

 

 

[Mirabell61]

Nice Progress Dan !

 

yes, those superstructures are not easy and you`re doing that job very well.....

 

Nils

[KeithAug]

35 minutes ago, shipmodel said:

In the photo this area does not look that complex, but this is deceiving.

Dan - it actually looks pretty complex to me - maybe your concept of complexity is starting to get a bit warped. She is looking very crisp.

[michael mott]

1 hour ago, KeithAug said:

Dan - it actually looks pretty complex to me - maybe your concept of complexity is starting to get a bit warped. She is looking very crisp.

Yes, I agree with that!

Dan, glad you mentioned that the funnels were weights because at first I was wondering.

Michael

[Jim Lad]

Beautifully crisp work on some very complex shapes, Dan.

 

John

[druxey]

Michael: those are camouflaged funnels!

 

Dan: she is looking very nice indeed. I love the dazzle paintwork.

[shipmodel]

Hi again, and thanks as always for the likes and compliments.

 

Druxey, those are stealth funnels. . .

 

Continuing with the build, now that the uppermost deckhouses were framed out their sides were detailed.  First the camouflage scheme on the troop ship was carried up and over the sides, even over the angled louvers and the rounded cover over the large salon.  Doors, windows, portholes, moldings and handrails were added with their locations taken from the plans and photos.

All of the large structures on the ocean liner side were left or painted white with brass handrails.  The decals for the double-deck height windows of the Winter Garden were carefully lined up, even though it is difficult to see the lower windows unless the light is just right since they are deep under the overhanging deck.  Railings were added to three of the open spaces that house boats on the troop ship.

The next elements to tackle were the three funnels.  Size and location were taken from the plans, but they are not very detailed, and what they show is confusing.  I work better from photos so here they are.  They are oval cylinders with no taper and rake back at 8 degrees.  The liner funnels were painted red up three quarters of their height, with the top quarter divided equally between a lower white band and an upper blue one.  The forward two have four ancillary pipes spaced equally around them, though the third funnel does not have them.  Other photos show that the last funnel has one pipe that runs up the back just to port of the centerline.

 

In this close-up you can see that there are two reinforcing bands for the attachment points of the guy wires.  One is halfway up, the other just below the white band.  There is a rounded lip at the top of each.  A steam pipe runs up the front of the second funnel to a platform where a foghorn is mounted.  This does not appear on the last funnel.  Other photos are a bit unclear, but seem to show a double foghorn on the front of the first funnel and ladders leading up. 

Construction began by carving a mold out of pine.  The best image of the plan view of a funnel was cut from the plans, then resized to be 1mm smaller than full size in both width and length.  I copied it six times and printed them on one page.  Two were cut out and glued to the top and bottom of a rectangular billet that was a bit taller than needed.  Care was taken to be sure that they lined up with each other.  The excess wood was removed with a coarse sanding drum in the Dremel, then a medium grit belt sander, and finished with a fine sanding block.   

The resulting cylinder was sealed with several coats of clear finish and sanded smooth.  I wrapped it with waxed paper, then two layers of 0.010” sheet styrene.  The four total thicknesses of the plastic add up to 0.040”, or 1mm, bringing the outer dimensions back to full size.   To make the plastic to permanently take on the right shape I tried a technique I read in FineScale Modeler magazine.  I wrapped it all around with several rubber bands, then dunked it in simmering water for 20 seconds, then cooled it in cold water.

With the rubber bands removed I could open the outer layer slightly without taking it off the mold to feed in some thin Tamiya plastic cement, which had enough working time that I could close it back together and secure with rubber bands until the glue dried.  The exposed edge was ground and sanded smooth and flush.

After sliding the plastic off the waxed paper, and despite the boiling and cooling, the funnel returned to a much too tubular a shape.  I was a bit disappointed but I always planned to use the mold to shape and stiffen the funnel.  However, it had been quite a long process to shape the mold, and I would have to do two more.  Then I had the idea to cut the mold into nine pieces.  For each funnel I slid one piece into the middle of the tube and glued it there.  Pieces were secured in the top and bottom, the top one set down a little.

A half-round strip made up the lip at the top and narrow strips were added for the eyebolt reinforcements.  The bottoms of the funnels were shaped to the 8 degree angle on a disc sander.  All three were primed with dark grey before being tested in place for angle, lean, and symmetry.

Once their overall shapes were acceptable a set of tiny eyebolts were twisted up and installed.  There are eight evenly spaced along each of the reinforcing strips, a total of 48 on the three funnels.  Then the troop ship sides of the first two funnels were sprayed light grey and the camouflage pattern hand painted according to the plans in dark grey.  The third funnel was painted with the blue-green color.  Then the centerlines were located and masked with the Frog tape.  The top of the liner side was painted white, then masked so the lower area could be sprayed with a medium red and the top brush painted Navy blue. 

          The outside pipes were made up from 1/16” brass rod with small sections of brass tube fitted to the top.  They are secured to the funnel with five eyebolts.  I found some commercially produced ones in my spares drawer that fit perfectly.  To line them up I laid on a narrow strip of tape and drew a straight line on it.  Eyebolt locations were marked and holes drilled. 

After removing the tape and gluing in the eyebolts the pipes slid in without a hitch where they were secured with dots of epoxy.  On the front face of the first two funnels I added a dark painted PE ladder on the troop ship side and a thinner steam pipe on the liner side of center leading up to a small railed platform to service the foghorn. 

          The top of the funnels does not appear clearly in any photo that I have, so I took some guidance from the interior structures seen in the cross-section plan and gave them a large central ring protected by a PE grating.  On the forward two funnels there are also four smaller pipes epoxied to the wood plug, while the last funnel only has one.  Then the tops were painted flat black.

The external pipes were brush painted to match the background colors.  Here are the liner sides.

The forward faces.

And the troop ship sides.

There was one final detail.  At the base of the third funnel the photos show a series of flat plates rounded top and bottom.  I did not know what these were until I located a photo of the original funnel on the SS Vaterland.  There they are open holes, probably for air circulation.  They were closed off during the war and left that way later during the liner incarnation.  I thought that they made a nice detail, so I made them up out of 0.005” strip.  They were painted off the model before installation and the different tones make them stand out just enough to see if you look for them.

So here is my usual final double photo.  All of the structural elements have been built up from the waterline and in from the bow and stern, finishing with the center funnel.  Now begins the fun work of detailing the ship from the top down and the center out.

More soon.

 

Be well

 

Dan

[KeithAug]

Dan

It is always a good Sunday afternoon when one of your updates appears. Lovely work on the funnels.

[druxey]

Masking the funnels for painting must have been interesting! The finished result looks far superior to the brass rod stealth versions.

Edited March 17, 2019 by druxey

[cog]

With regards to druxey's remark, how did you mask those funnels, for those look excellent.

[lmagna]

Hi Dan

Your work as always has been impeccable to say the least.

 

I suspect that with the pictures you have supplied and the shape/vents of the superstructure, that only the first two funnels were actually functional as such. The third, like the last funnel on the Titanic, was added for status and only housed piping and stuff like that In the last picture it even shows a ladder and hatchway entering into the funnel just above the air circulation openings.

[shipmodel]

Keith, Druxey - thanks for the compliments.

Carl - it turned out to be less difficult than I expected.  The funnels were pretty smooth at that point and the Frog tape that I used is very good at masking a straight edge.  I also aimed the paint spray from the masked areas over the edge of the tape, and not against it.   There were only a few spots that had to be touched up.   Any curved edges, and all of the pipes and details, were painted freehand without masking.

 

Thanks for asking.

 

Dan

[shipmodel]

Hi Lou - 

 

I probably agree with you, because I know that the last funnel on the Titanic was a dummy, as you say.  However, although the plans indicate that there were water tanks inside the third funnel, they also indicate a smoke or steam pipe in it.  In the absence of anything definitive I opted to make the top of the funnel pretty much match the other two.

 

Dan

 

[lmagna]

I am sure you are right, as you have done the research and I have not. Maybe it is some kind of small auxiliary steam engine(s). I know that many ships had them for powering electricity running some pumps, distilling salt water, and things of that nature. Normally they were four to six feet tall double acting piston engines. Most of those I have seen were strictly single piston, (Recovered from scrapped Liberty ships) but they could have been almost any type of engine.

Edited March 18, 2019 by lmagna

[vossiewulf]

Extremely spiffy work across the board, Dan.

[shipmodel]

Lou - 

 

Your question got me wondering just what was inside.  According to the refit plans there is a large vent pipe that runs up along the aft side and reaches all the way to the engineering decks near the bilges.  It services the restaurant galley, among other spaces.  Other vents at the forward end do not have a separate pipe, they just open into the funnel at its base.  That's why the Vaterland had the openings, I believe,  During the war there must have been other arrangements made, but the plans don't show them.

 

[lmagna]

Hi Dan

It looks like there are a number of vents that all terminate in or close to the after stack.

 

The drawings are a little cut off, but it appears that the after pipe that runs externally up the after portion of the stack is primarily for the ventilation of the after desalinization machinery for drinking water. I think the forward one may terminate at the forward boiler makeup fresh water desalinization equipment room. Most of the smaller pipes seem to be for bathrooms and washrooms and possibly kitchens, along with smoking room and battery room, where there will be toilets, sinks, and showers or baths along with other vapors that one would want to vent from the ship. in the case of the water fixtures, just like in any home, all of these fixtures would need vents to prevent being sucked dry when draining and allowing fumes to back up into the various rooms involved. No fun in a home or a ship!

 

The tanks in the stack probably supplied great pressure by the time the water got back down to the lower decks. Do the plans show any more in other locations on the ship? It would seem that the small tank shown would not supply enough fresh water for drinking and washing etc. Flushing was probably saltwater.

 

Interesting view into the inner working and requirements of the common ship that we never really address or even get to view.

 

Thanks for the look.